Robert Gustofson

Strengths: Results and communication. We were really impressed by how I responded to the protocol pretty much exactly as predicted, as did our eggs and embryos - it built a lot of trust in Dr. G, as well as the embryologists and other technicians. And we appreciated how every care provider proactively communicated with us (e.g., after every lab and before every procedure) and was willing to spend time to answer any and all questions. Administrative departments were also great, from scheduling to billing to sending paperwork. The finance department was also very helpful in answering questions we had about the costs and options for payment/reimbursement. Weaknesses: Imperfect coordination across care providers. Contradictory information was our main frustration in this process, and it usually stemmed from the Lone Tree staff having different information/assumptions than the Louisville staff, or whoever answered the phone assuming standard operating procedure with our treatment when there were important changes/adjustments made by Dr. G in our file. What you should know: As with any clinic and fertility treatment, be prepared to be more organized than anyone else involved in your care, and to press for clarification/correction whenever something doesn't match your understanding or simply doesn't feel right to you. These are caring professionals who share your goal of a successful pregnancy, and they have an impressive track record of making that happen. But they are still an imperfect operation, especially when it comes to coordinating the little details, so make sure to stay on top of those yourself.

I appreciate that I can see and print results directly from the patient portal. I asked that they always be placed there and they did. The nurses were good to call and let me know results as well - even if the results did not change any course of action I was on. CCRM is a big company, but I never felt like a number at this Louisville branch.

It can feel like a machine but it’s one that knows what they’re doing. You will have to repeat most testing at your one day workup, but it is more through than others. I recommend starting the fertility evaluation process several months before you actually plan to do a retrieval. They had me participate in a study that added 12 weeks. From our first consult, the timeframe for three retrievals and transfer was 10 months, with a month off here and there for medical reasons and mental health vacations.

CCRM is known for their lab, which is one of the best in the world. However, you can feel like a number at the actual clinic. The staff is friendly and always responsive, but everything is very "assembly line" in that you have one nurse who does the blood draw, another do the follicle scan, and another that explains your numbers to you, and none of them are your main point of contact nurse. However, as said, everyone is friendly, the clinic is very clean, and I didn't feel my care was ever compromised by their way of doing things.

CCRM is very well-run: booking appointments, the one-day work-up, setting dates for procedures, were all very easy. The finance office is hard to reach and a bit confusing, but ultimately I found a very helpful employee who made the process infinitely easier. It can feel a little impersonal, as you may not see your nurse every visit, and you certainly won't see your doctor, but everyone is kind, professional, and willing to answer any questions.

I love the Louisville location. It’s small and feels welcoming. The Lone Tree location I have found to be intimidating because it’s so big and fancy, and I don’t know the staff there as personally. All of the surgery staff at Lone Tree were beyond excellent though - so warm and reassuring.

The Louisville (Avista) campus was good about communication, but we ran into more trouble with that from the Lone Tree campus, which can be frustrating as they are the only ones open on the weekends and the only surgery center. The nurses were all very kind and the facility always felt clean and professional. The whole process ended up taking a lot longer than was originally told (some of this is just due to hormones, etc. that nobody has control over) and this could be frustrating.

The biggest weakness of the clinic is their hours. They only take appointments until 3:15. This timing is difficult when you cannot preplan appointment because it is determined by your cycle and you are trying to work full time. Other than that the clinic was always nice and compassionate.

The Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine is a world-renowned fertility clinic for a reason - they provide state-of-the-art treatments, innovative research, and techniques that give them higher success rates than many of their counterparts. The staff is well-trained and things are done very efficiently. However, this often creates a very sterile environment where you feel more like a cog in the wheel than a living, breathing human with a personal story. This is more evident in the extravagant Lonetree location than in smaller, homier Louisville. The other glaringly obvious issue is the business office. For such a larger, profitable organization, they are disorganized and often rude. One example of their ineptitude - they failed to inform us about the due date for a $30,000 payment and then insisted we find a way to pay it within 12 hours when we were on vacation in Italy. There mistake, but ours to fix. I was continually shocked at how many errors and inefficiencies we encountered and they were VERY frustrating given how much we were paying the clinic for our treatments.

Overall CCRM has so many patients I can see where it feels like you're a number. However my personal doctor did not make me feel that way. Nursing staff wad terrible. Buildings themself clean. Lab people friendly. Usually fairly easy to make appointments

CCRM has a great laboratory that helps to yield good results, ie live births. They are pioneers of the field so you know you are getting great care. They are a big clinic so sometimes you can feel lost as a number. Some doctors dont have great bedside manner but ours did. They are more expensive then most clinics it seems. They have great hours which allows for flexibility. Many other clinics are not open on weekends.

The Louisville clinic does a great job making you feel welcome, it doesn't feel as clinicy as you might expect. Tara in ultrasound was also awesome to work with. It was nice to always see a smiling face whether it was for testing, a regroup or just bloodwork.

IVF is a complex process that involves more than doctors. We relied heavily on the embryologists, the nurses, and the business office. At every other clinic, the care was far less comprehensive and very disjointed. We sought care locally in Jacksonville at three clinics. Dissatisfied, we considered several clinics in New York and Los Angeles. After our initial call with CCRM, we were convinced to give it a whirl and went out for our 1-day consultation. Maybe the best decision of our marriage. We saw Dr. Gustofson at the Lone Tree office. While Denver is a fantastic city, the Lone Tree area is pretty generic, full of national chains and light on charm. We preferred to stay downtown or in Cherry Creek. For our first 1-day consultation, we stayed in Lone Tree for the convenience. For longer visits, enjoy the charm of Denver and make the daily drive to Lone Tree for your appointments. The clinic is 15 minutes from Cherry Creek. We were impressed and pleased at every turn. For our one-day consultation, we started out in the conference room with a group of couples from all over the country. We then ran through a series of appointments and tests, which concluded with a meeting with our doctor. That day will cover all of your questions. CCRM only accepts United for insurance. Otherwise, it's about $5,000 out of pocket. They do accept American Express now but didn't in 2016 when we first went to CCRM. You have to do this same initial work-up before the start of each new cycle. As an out-of-town patient, the most complicated aspect will be getting your local clinic to send the results in a timely manner. You'll have to get monitoring and blood drawn at a local clinic throughout the process. My biggest frustrations were getting my results to CCRM from labs and other clinics. You will likely have to be really pushy with your local clinics. It might create some awkward tension, especially since you aren't really going to them for medical advice, only asking them to take orders from CCRM. Make use of CCRM's portal for communication. It's much easier than trying to deal with the phone tree. You can always get to your nurse's line directly through her extension. I am still blown away at how accessible Dr. Gustofson is. If I was in doubt about any detail or want to ask him a question directly, I could simply e-mail him, and he responds directly. I do not have this degree of access to any other doctor anywhere.

Their approach is so technical yet felt specialized to me. I feel like their level of experience, research and knowledge is the best. I never felt like they were trying to achieve their success rates, I felt like they were trying to help me achieve my goal. At my previous clinic I felt like they wouldn't take any more chances with me because of their success rates. I felt like they gave up on me and CCRM said we can do this and they made our dreams come true.

I believe CCRM gets patients with difficult cases from all over the world, so they have seen it all - a big plus. I only met with Dr. G but have heard great things about the other doctors. I like their approach because they rely not only on the meds, but on supplements and alternative treatment like acupuncture.

I found most of the staff I encountered to be very nice and helpful, the facility itself was nice and I think that overall things run pretty smoothly with the day to day there. As a clinic I don’t think they have many weaknesses other than some of the staff did not seem great with communication some of the time.

The entire staff is absolutely impeccable. They are friendly, knowledgeable, and have high standards of communication between patients and staff. Their precise and diligent. When multiple appointments are scheduled, they run seamlessly with little wait time in between. I always leave impressed with their professionalism, yet engaging personalities.

The clinic is gorgeous, very operationally efficient, and everyone communicates very well to each other. They have orientation that answers all questions, have several areas where specific things are done (lab vs ultrasound, etc) and each section tells the other when they are done so that what could have been a long visit turns out to be very short. Although it may seem like a baby-making factory, it is highly efficient and they know exactly what they are doing. They even have the "extras" like acupuncture and massage etc.

Strengths: VERY organized, best fertility lab in the world, honest, individualized care. I loved that this was only a fertility clinic and NOT an OB clinic as well. There is not much worse then having to sit next to a pregnant person while going to visit your fertility specialist. Infertility clinics and OB clinic‘s should never be in the same building as each other. Weaknesses: cannot think of anything.

CCRM has mostly strengths—their super structured, diligent practice delivers results in a reasonable timeline. Infertility is not fast, it is not cheap. I don't believe one can go in thinking it is. CCRM handles the process as perfectly as one can.

The strengths are their success rates, and the staff. Everyone from the receptionist, to the nurses, to the ultrasound techs, to our doctor, was amazing. I will say that absolutely get treated at the Lousiville office if you can - they definitely have a better nursing staff and a more friendly vibe than the Lone Tree office (you go there on weekends regardless). My one issue with CCRM was the billing department. They are REALLY BAD - we were all self pay, which makes things easy on their end without having to haggle with insurance. Despite that, there were a number of mistakes and issues, including charging us an extra $4k after a transfer for line items they forgot to charge us for. I have heard they have hired someone new to hopefully improve things, so just know that the billing side will be tough. The quality of the care far outweighs the frustrations with the billing however!

The strength is the empathy and compassion that the majority of the staff have for their patients. Regardless of who I interacted with during my many visits over a year and a half, the staff were great. As challenging and emotional as this process can be, it's nice to have caring staff to work with. I also feel their counseling staff were amazing.

Clinic itself is great. Answers every question in a timely manner. Is flexible with scheduling. Everyone is respectful. Their business office is difficult to work with. Impossible to contact over the phone. Leave messages and nobody calls back. When you use the patient portal to email them, it takes days to hear back. This makes it hard because finances are a huge part of this process and this can become very stressful, especially when you are already dealing with stress from treatments.